What the Early Days of the Cable Industry Reveal About Silicon Valley

In the second season of the HBO comedy Silicon Valley (minor spoiler alert), a tech company debuts its highly anticipated data compression algorithm by livestreaming a pivotal mixed martial arts match in ultra high definition over the Internet. The plot point feels perfectly 2015, right down to the sly joke embedded in the notion of a “highly anticipated data compression algorithm.” But it was also a subtle reference to when, 40 years earlier, HBO and the young cable industry demonstrated their capabilities by bringing the heavyweight boxing match of the century -- the legendary “Thrilla in Manila,” Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier -- into people’s homes in real time. It’s a moment that cable historians point to as the true beginning of the industry’s massive rise. And it’s one of many parallels between the early days of the cable industry and the current era dominated by Internet and media behemoths.

With the announcement of Charter Communications’ long-anticipated plans to merge with Time Warner Cable, much attention has focused on the merger’s implications for customers and for the media and telecommunications industries. But the announcement is interesting for another reason: In it, history is reasserting itself, and that history is most notably encapsulated in one of the primary players in this deal -- a longtime industry leader named John Malone.